Package Dyeing
A process for dyeing thread wound on packages. Dye solution is forced under pressure from the outside of the package inward, and then from the inside out.
Padazoic
A little known dyestuff that was used in the late 1960s and early 1970s instead of indigo when there was insufficient indigo production throughout the world to support the demand.
Paisley
A drop-shaped pattern that is extremely popular for men’s ties.
Panné Satin
A satin fabric with an unusually high luster because of the application of very heavy roll pressure in finishing. Panné satin is made of silk or one of the man-made fibres.
Panné Velvet
Velvet of silk or a man-made fibre, with a finish in which the pile is flattened and laid in one direction. Panné velvet is a lustrous lightweight fabric.
Papermaker’s Felt
A heavy, wide, coarse, worsted or woolen fabric which is woven double and bound only at the edges, forming a large tube which is cut to the required width. This is threaded between the rolls of the papermaking machine to form an endless conveyor belt for pulp or wet paper in its passage through the machine.
Partially Oriented Staple
Staple fibres cut from tow that has been drawn less than normal so that only partial longitudinal orientation of the polymer molecules exists.
Partially Oriented Yarn
Filament yarns in which the draw ratio is less than normal resulted in partial longitudinal orientation of the polymer molecules.
Pass-Through Pockets
Used in pants that are pulled on over another pair of pants. This allows access to the primary layer pants’ pockets.
Patch Pocket
A pocket attached to the outside of a garment.
Pattern
An arrangement of form; a design or decoration such as the design of woven or printed fabrics. A model, guide, or plan used in making things, such as a garment pattern.
Peach Finish
A soft hand (feel) usually obtained by sanding the fabric lightly; it can be achieved with chemical or laundry abrasion.
Pearlized Buttons
Buttons that have a pearl-coloured hue.
Peau De Soie
A heavyweight, soft satin of silk or man-made fibre with a fine cross rib and a dull luster. The term is French for “skin of silk.”
Pebble-weave Fabric
A fabric with an irregular or rough surface texture formed by either a special weave or by the use of highly twisted yarns which shrink when they are wet.
Pebbled Leather
An embossed and textured leather that feels much softer than its grainy appearance portrays. The result is leather with a surface covered with small, rounded prominences.
Peeler
A high quality extra-long staple upland cotton with a staple 1 1/8 inches in length or more.
Percale
A closely woven, plain-weave spun fabric used for dress goods and sheeting, generally 80 x 80 threads per inch or better.
Permanent Press
A term describing a garment which has been treated so that it retains its smooth appearance, shape and creases or pleats in laundering. In such garments, no ironing is required, particularly if the garment is tumble dried.
Petroleum Wash
Denim finish developed in 1992 by the U.S. brand WilliWear. A left-hand denim is enzyme washed until it has lost most of its colour. It is then overdyed and put through a silicone wash, which gives it an oily coating, and, in turn, a super-soft, butter-like hand.
Pewter Buttons
Buttons that have a dull, metallic hue.
Pewter and Horn Tone Buttons
Buttons that incorporate pewter and horn tone, usually one encompasses the other.
Pick
A single filling thread carried by one trip of the weft-insertion device across the loom. The picks interlace with the warp ends to form a woven fabric.
Pick Count
The number of filling yarns per inch or per centimeter of fabric.
Pickstitch
Tiny decorative backstitches used to flatten and define lapel edges on jackets. One small stitch is taken backward (on the outside of a garment) for every large stitch taken forward (on the inside of a garment). Stitch Type 202 (variation). Sometimes referred to as Prickstitch.
Picot
A small loop woven on the edge of ribbon, or a purl on lace. A picot edge may also be produced by a hemstitching machine. A run-resistant loop usually found at the top of hosiery.
Piece Dyeing
Fabrics that are dyed a solid colour after they have been woven or knitted, but before they are sewn into a garment.
Pigment Dyes
Dyes without affinity for fibre and are therefore held to fabric with resins. They are available in almost any color and have been used extensively in the jeans wear industry by fabric dyers who want to create fabrics that fade.
Pigsuede
A suede produced from the skin (flesh side) of a domestic pig that has undergone the usual sueding process. Pigskin has the characteristic grain pattern produced by the hair follicles that are arranged in (roughly) triangular groups of three. These holes remain following the removal of the bristles on both the inner and outer side. Pigskin is tough and durable.
Pile
A fabric effect formed by introducing tufts, loops, or other erect yarns on all or part of the fabric surface. Types are warp, filling, and knotted pile, or loops produced by weaving an extra set of yarns over wires which are then drawn out of the fabric.
Pill
A small accumulation of fibres on the surface of a fabric. Pills can develop during wear, are held to the fabric by an entanglement with the surface fibres of the material, and are usually composed of the same fibres from which the fabric is made.
Pill Free®
A process developed by Lee® to help prevent pilling on fleece garments.
Pima Cotton
Cotton grown in Peru and America where the fibre length is long (13/8” - 15/8”) and luxurious. A beautiful quality of cotton. The best available after Sea Island and Egyptian cotton fibre.
Pincord
Corduroy’s rib count per inch can vary from 1.5 to 21, although the traditional standard falls somewhere between 10 and 12. Pincord is the finest cord around with a count that’s right at the upper end of the spectrum (above 16) and has a feel that’s as soft as velvet.
Pinpoint Oxford
Two fine yarns that are wrapped together for a fine and luxurious hand.
Piqué
A medium- to heavy-weight fabric with raised cords in the warp direction. A double-knit fabric construction knit on multi-feed circular machines.
Pirn
A wood, paper, or plastic support, cylindrical or slightly tapered, with or without a conical base, on which yarn is wound.
Placket
The construction that forms the opening in the front of the shirt, allowing the wearer to put it on or take it off with ease.
Plain Sewers
A single needle lockstitch machine that uses a needle thread and bobbin thread. Many plain sewers today are equipped with automatic backtack, needle positioners, and top and bottom thread trimmers.
Plain Weave
The simplest and most common fabric weave where the filling yarn passes over and under each warp yarn in alternating rows.
Pleat
Three layers of fabric involving two folds or reversals of direction; the back fold may be replaced by a seam.
Plied Yarn
A yarn formed by twisting together two or more single yarns in one operation.
Plissé
A lightweight, plain weave, fabric made from cotton, rayon, or acetate, and is characterized by a puckered striped effect, usually in the warp direction. The effect is created through the appplication of a caustic soda solution, which shrinks the fabric in the areas of the fabric where it is applied. Plissé is similar in appearance to seersucker. End uses include dresses, shirts, pajamas, and bedspreads.
Plush
A term describing a cut-pile carpet in which the pile yarns are only slightly twisted, dense, and very evenly sheared. A plush carpet has the look of a solid, flat velvet surface. Similar pile constructions are also used in upholstery fabric.
Ply
All yarns are single ply unless twisted with another yarn. Terms used are: 2 ply if two yarns are twisted together and 3 ply if three are twisted. Plied yarns are used to make yarns stronger. In the jeanswear industry it has become important to ply yarns in piece dyed fabrics that are intended to endure a long stone wash cycle.
Ply Security
Refers to a sewing thread’s ability to stay together during the sewing process.
Pocket Bag
Pouch of fabric that forms the functional part of the pocket.
Pointelle Knit
A rib-knit fabric made with a pattern of openings formed by the use of transfer stitches—a transfer of loops from one needle to another to form a hole or structural change.
Points / Demerit Points
Visual fabric inspections require a numerical assessment to be made to areas of the fabric where there are defects.
Polar Fleece
Knitted usin 100% fine denier polyester yarns. The pile is napped on the front and back to promote a very soft hand with exceptional loft. This is a fine denier knit that also allows the fabric to dry quickly.
Polyamide (PA)
See Nylon.
Polyester (PES)
Polyester is made of chemicals derived from coal, air, water and oil. Polyester is a strong fibre with a good dye affinity, a high luster and good resiliency. In the 1960s polyester and cotton were blended and had mass market appeal due to the blending of both fibres’ strengths. Polyester’s weak characteristics are that it pills, and is nonabsorbent.
Characteristics: Polyester fibres have high strength and are resistant to shrinking and stretching. Fabrics are quick-drying and tend to have wrinkle resistance and crease retention, wet and dry. Polyester is used alone and in fabrics with permanent-press features.
End Uses: Polyester is widely used in many types of apparel fabrics such as textured knits and wovens, permanent-press blend fabrics, shirtings, dress goods, rainwear, worsted-blend summer suitings, sleepwear, underwear, blouses, and lingerie. It is also used extensively in floor coverings and for tire cord and other industrial uses such as sewing thread. Polyester fiberfill is used in filled items such as quilted jackets, comforters, pillows, furniture cushions and sleeping bags.
Pongee
A thin, naturally tan-colored silk fabric with a knotty, rough weave. A cotton fabric made from yarns spun from fine-combed staple and finished with a high luster. This fabric is used for underwear. Fabrics like cotton pongee made from man-made fibres.
Ponte Di Roma
A common double-knit fabric construction with a four-feed repeat produced with the dial and cylinder needles in interlock gaiting.
The fabric is plain and looks the same on both sides.
Popcorn
A special effect yarn containing short, thick spots.
Poplin
Name of a light weight tightly (more warp threads than filling) woven plain weave fabric where a coarser yarn is used in the filling than the warp, leaving a slight rib effect across the width of the goods.
U.S. Customs defines this fabric as “not of a square construction, whether napped or not, weighing less than 200 gms per square metre, containing 33 or less warp ends and filling picks per square centimetre.”
Pre-shrunk
The growing jeans industry’s answer to the original Levi’s concept of shrink-to-fit. In 1947, Blue Bell introduced the first Wrangler jeans, which were sanforised, or pre-shrunk, guaranteeing less than two percent further shrinkage. Other companies followed suit. In 1959, Levi Strauss offered the first pre-shrunk.
Prickstitch
See Pickstitch.
Printcloth
A medium-weight, plain-weave fabric made of carded yarns, usually cotton or polyester/cotton blends, ranging in count from 28s to 42s. Millions of yards of printcloth are printed annually and other millions are finished as white goods. Large amounts of the goods are also used in the greige for bags, containers, and base fabric for coated materials.
Pucker
Uneven surface caused by differential shrinkage of the yarns in a fabric or differential shrinkage of the fabric and sewing thread. May be desirable and planned, or undesirable. Poly corespun threads are recommended on most fabrics to minimize seam puckering because of its high tenacity and excellent lubricity characteristics.
Pumice Stones
A volcanic stone used for stone washing garments. Pumice is popular because of its strength and light weight.
Purled Edge
Series of raised loops; as a result of the interloopings of looper threads at an edge.